Apple's Suppliers Projecting Weak Demand for iPhone 7 Due to 'Lack of Innovation'

[dk001]

Actually, you're asking for the impossible. I haven't seen bug free software of ANY kind on this planet since computer was invented.

True, however I am not asking for totally bug free. Basically bug free. That "Basic Bug Free" has been gone from iOS since iOS 7 rolled out. Launch, some bugs, fix with a x.1 or at most x.2. I should have a basically bug free experience well before the next upgrade.

Bought a 6S+ and now it's on 9.3.1 and still buggy.
My 6+ on iOS 8 was still looking for fixes a year later.
Bought a Nexus 6P and it is pretty much bug free.

One of the biggest issues: in iOS if a core app is buggy, I cannot default a replacement app. That makes the experience even worse. So I am waiting for OS and core app fixes. This makes core apps part of the OS.

Personal use; yours may vary.
[doublepost=1463154679][/doublepost]

By "alternative" I meant you weren't forced to pay the $649 retail price up front. You didn't... did you?

I've never paid the full $649 (or $849 in my case) up-front for an iPhone. Ever.

I've always used the carrier "alternatives" to paying the full price for a phone over time.

Whether it was the old subsidy model... or these new payment plans... you don't HAVE to pay the full retail price all at once.

...

Actual end of day cost vs. perceived cost. Don't laugh. This is the way most buyers think.

• I buy a flagship phone under subsidy and a two year contract. Up front payment of $199 plus tax. $90 monthly plan. After my initial entry cost, I am paying $90 a month for the next two years. I can leave with ETF. If I shop around I may be able to reduce that up front cost.
• I buy the flagship phone outright at $699 plus tax. I get the same plan - $90 a month. After my initial entry cost I am paying $90 a month however I can leave whenever I want and switch carriers.
• I get a flagship phone under a payment plan. No upfront cost. I do have a $27 payment per month. Same $90 plan. My monthly cost is $117. I do not have a contract however if I leave the remainder of the phone cost is due in full. So I am basically locked in for 24 months to the length of the payment plan.

Most people do not change carriers.
Subsidies cost the carriers money and save the user money.
Buy outright or use of payment plan costs the user more either up front or on the monthly bill.

Perception: the subsidy is the cheapest.

All the rest is perceived as a numbers game. Bean counter territory.

 

[jujufreeze]

True, however I am not asking for totally bug free. Basically bug free. That "Basic Bug Free" has been gone from iOS since iOS 7 rolled out. Launch, some bugs, fix with a x.1 or at most x.2. I should have a basically bug free experience well before the next upgrade.

Bought a 6S+ and now it's on 9.3.1 and still buggy.
My 6+ on iOS 8 was still looking for fixes a year later.
Bought a Nexus 6P and it is pretty much bug free.

One of the biggest issues: in iOS if a core app is buggy, I cannot default a replacement app. That makes the experience even worse. So I am waiting for OS and core app fixes. This makes core apps part of the OS.

Personal use; yours may vary.
[doublepost=1463154679][/doublepost]

Actual end of day cost vs. perceived cost. Don't laugh. This is the way most buyers think.

• I buy a flagship phone under subsidy and a two year contract. Up front payment of $199 plus tax. $90 monthly plan. After my initial entry cost, I am paying $90 a month for the next two years. I can leave with ETF. If I shop around I may be able to reduce that up front cost.
• I buy the flagship phone outright at $699 plus tax. I get the same plan - $90 a month. After my initial entry cost I am paying $90 a month however I can leave whenever I want and switch carriers.
• I get a flagship phone under a payment plan. No upfront cost. I do have a $27 payment per month. Same $90 plan. My monthly cost is $117. I do not have a contract however if I leave the remainder of the phone cost is due in full. So I am basically locked in for 24 months to the length of the payment plan.

Most people do not change carriers.
Subsidies cost the carriers money and save the user money.
Buy outright or use of payment plan costs the user more either up front or on the monthly bill.

Perception: the subsidy is the cheapest.

All the rest is perceived as a numbers game. Bean counter territory.

I must not think like most buyers. Always buy my phone up front and have switched carriers 4 times in the recent past.

 

[ChrisTX]

Bought every single iPhone up to the 6. Now I am 'droid.

I left the iPhone for a Samsung at iPhone 5 because I felt like it was "more of the same" which isn't necessarily bad but just nothing new and I wanted something new and exciting. I now am a happy iPhone 6 Plus owner but if the iPhone 7 is just a slight revamp or "tweak" of the iPhone 6(Ie: removing the antenna bands on the back) I might reconsider the Note 6. The iPhone & iOS offers the most consistent and reliable experience but the Note 3 I left behind was a really solid device.

 

[maxsix]

It's about price. Contracts are going away, more transparency, and a ton of excellent phones at quarter of Apple's prices.

Price AND Same Old Design.

It could also be due to the buggy experience and dodgy updates that bring new problems.

No longer offering a premier experience to match the high premium price, iPhone has lost it's luster.

It's as simple as that!

 

[mackinmike]

Dude, they lost innovation a looonnnng time ago.. people are just waking up now. Apple continues to think they can bank it on their strong branding.... like clueless users buying anything Apple produces. I'm sure in conference rooms, they mentioned that... "hey, they will buy anything we produce"

 

[maxsix]

Although rather unlikely, a serious downturn just might wake Apple up. Profit taking is encouraging Apple to recycle the same old phone.

 

[maxsix]

Lack of innovation????

• First to market with pressure-sensitive capacitive touch screen
• First to market with phone made of 7000-series military-grade aluminium
• First to market with SSD NAND flash controller for laptop-class R/W storage performance
• Still best-in-class fingerprint reader that cannot be matched for accuracy, response time, and security of any other reader
• Still best-in-class SoC that with only dual cores puts 8-core Droids to shame in both single and multi-core performance
• Most stable OS on mobile
• Best-in-class update rollout times for OS

I could keep going, but you catch my drift...



So you're passing judgement that there is no innovation on a phone doesn't exist yet and the world hasn't even seen yet? Gotcha...



I feel sorry for you...



Look above to quantify just how much INNOVATION the iPhone actually HAS in relation to the competition...

Nothing above is relevant in today's competitive market.

Even the claim that iPhone has "Best-in-class update rollout times for OS" no longer holds true. Nexus models by Google also get immediate and frequent OS updates.

My personal side by side comparison between my Nexus 6P and iPhone 6s Plus reveals the Nexus to be much faster, smoother and completely bug free. It would be nice if my far more expensive ($300 Apple Tax) iPhone could keep up with Google's flagship.

Perhaps iPhone 7 will be a better example of what Apple can do when they focus. They've lost sight of the quality standards they once achieved.

It's time that Apple get back on track.

 

[Nightarchaon]

What the market wants

More Battery Life, and a Memory card slot.

What apple wants,

Less components and cheaper components in the phone, but to charge more.

They have reached the point now where "thinner and lighter" is starting to feel "Cheap and disposable"

The iPhone 1 had a reassuring weight to it, it FELT quality in your hand, the 3 felt awful and plastic, then the 4 went back to feeling good. the 6 has a "too light" "to thin" "to easily broken" "cheap" feeling about it, that could have been fixed by doubling thickness, and filling that extra space with battery (and a memory card slot)

 

[jhorak101]

Stoping making a new phone every year , maybe every two or three years but stop making them every year. I used and iphone 4S for three years having used an iphone 3GS for two years before that, now I am on my second year with an iphone 6 and it does everything I need it to do.

 

[jamesrick80]

And so the exodus of Apple iOS users begins! I'm sorry but they brought this upon themselves. Apathetic that's Apple over the last few years. Still love my Mac though! So much better than Windows laptops. I'll hold off until next years iPhone redesign, but if it isn't stellar and Apple doesn't show a genuine willingness to vastly improve all of their services (and iOS in useful ways) then Android might be the way forward for me too. Spec wise and even aesthetically they already slay the iPhone.

I no longer can really defend apple and, OSX, or iOS anymore. I enjoy my apple products for now but there is so much more iOS and OSX can "be" and it seems apple just don't want to allow it. They do these little maneuvers to make us feel that there devices are the "elite" of the technology industry yet they don't make things easier on us. Giving premium devices 5400 rpm hard drives, still not giving ipad users a file manager or at least 100 GB of free icloud storage since we do pay a premium for their devices, limiting ram in pro devices (this is for those small ipad pro users; you deserved more enjoy the springboard crashes and safari tab issues), making users wait years for new macbook pro models that truly compete with windows laptops, and releasing an upcoming iphone this year with no true meaningful updates.

Then to make matters worst, this same company charges a premium for any accessory that's sometimes necessary for their devices (lets not even get to the port limitations of the latest 12 inch macbook). Your ipad pro is a pro device and should include the keyboard natively in the box with the actual ipad pro since that was the only truly meaningful thing that made this device pro besides the smart pencil which half us don't use. If i go on, it would be alot of reiterations but these are my thoughts for now......

 

[BSben]

One massive problem is Apple's ignorance of other countries. If you live in the USA or the UK and a few other countries, you get all features iOS offers, like ApplePay, the News App, better Siri results (because it uses WolramAlpha).
The rollout of ApplePay for example is painfully slow, and at this rate Android Pay will arrive in Germany and all those other countries well before ApplePay does. So in those countries iOS is much less useful, and that results in lower sales.
Why should they pay premium prices for phones that offer limited features?

 

[I7guy]

One massive problem is Apple's ignorance of other countries. If you live in the USA or the UK and a few other countries, you get all features iOS offers, like ApplePay, the News App, better Siri results (because it uses WolramAlpha).
The rollout of ApplePay for example is painfully slow, and at this rate Android Pay will arrive in Germany and all those other countries well before ApplePay does. So in those countries iOS is much less useful, and that results in lower sales.
Why should they pay premium prices for phones that offer limited features?

People obviously don't, which is why android won the market share.

 

[SactoGuy18]

I think what is disappointing people is that the new iPhones coming in September might as well be called iPhone 6s Series II models. Except for the removal of the antenna lines and the headphone jack, it doesn't look that much differen than the current iPhone 6s/6s+ models. based on the product leaks we've seen so far.

 

[admob71]

There isn't really a lack of innovation on the 7+, but there is a disparity of innovation between the 2 models.

How do you know, have you seen it?

 

[Dave Walker]

For me the 6S+ is almost perfect. It would be nice if it were less tall, 1mm thinner, and about 20% lighter. Water resistance would be nice.
So I am having difficulty imagining what the next 'must have' feature would be for me and I'm hoping this will last me at least 4 years.

 

[maxsix]

Demise Of iPhone...

Could this really happen?



http://www.businessinsider.com/why-apple-could-turn-into-blackberry-2016-5

 

[xtshabi]

Well I hope the weak demand means lower price

 

[maxsix]

I think what is disappointing people is that the new iPhones coming in September might as well be called iPhone 6s Series II models. Except for the removal of the antenna lines and the headphone jack, it doesn't look that much differen than the current iPhone 6s/6s+ models. based on the product leaks we've seen so far.

Recycling the same old iPhone works for Apple mainly because they've still got people believing Apple knows best. Yet those ranks are shrinking daily. As the cult of Apple dies off, new buyers are free of bias. Open minded and aware of the many alternate choices, they're more likely to think for themselves and choose accordingly.

 

[metoman]

Im will be traveling to the U.S. in September hoping to pick up the iPhone 7 at the same time.

Can i purchase a network Unlocked iPhone 7 from the iStore.
iPhone 7 on launch day
Do they come factory unlocked straight after launch ?

 

[dk001]

Demise Of iPhone...

Could this really happen?

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-apple-could-turn-into-blackberry-2016-5

If Apple loses the IA race ... iOS can easily become redundant.

 

[2ilent8cho]

Considering the iPhone SE still has a 2-3 week delivery time from apple.com and its been out what 2 months now almost? Unless there is a 4" version of the iPhone 7 i think that would play a considerable factor in there being weaker than usual sales. I have my SE and i cannot see any feature i would give up the 4" screen for now , i don't want a phone as big as the iPhone 6 was never mind a 6+ and judging by demand a considerable amount of Apples users want the smaller phone too.

So its a question now of has Apple made note and the iPhone 7 will be available in 3 sizes? If not i expect weaker iPhone 7 sales than they had with the iPhone 6.

 

[Toltepeceno]

Although rather unlikely, a serious downturn just might wake Apple up. Profit taking is encouraging Apple to recycle the same old phone.

Exactly. A downturn could be the best thing to happen for consumers........IF it wakes them up.

 

[maxsix]

Considering the iPhone SE still has a 2-3 week delivery time from apple.com and its been out what 2 months now almost? Unless there is a 4" version of the iPhone 7 i think that would play a considerable factor in there being weaker than usual sales. I have my SE and i cannot see any feature i would give up the 4" screen for now , i don't want a phone as big as the iPhone 6 was never mind a 6+ and judging by demand a considerable amount of Apples users want the smaller phone too.

So its a question now of has Apple made note and the iPhone 7 will be available in 3 sizes? If not i expect weaker iPhone 7 sales than they had with the iPhone 6.

I can see a future where happy users of the diminutive 4" iPhones are the backbone of Apple’s mobile devices. The love of tiny phones being unique to Apple devotees, sales of the "big iPhone" will have shrunken to a sliver of its prior level.

In this scenario, Android Smartphones dominate as the prefered mobile phone of choice.

This frees Apple up to focus on cars and other gadgets. Eagerly chasing Elon Musk, emulating Tesla, Apple is now able to catch up and establish it's place in the electric car business. By placing their focus on the auto industry and dedicating the majority of it's marketing muscle behind Apple Car, they will quickly garner the attention and headlines that keep Apple happy.

 

[nia820]

I feel like apple should have just skipped releasing a new iPhone this year. The iphone 7 is most likely going to be a rehash of iphone 6s. No new real features except dual camera and maybe they'll get rid of the ugly antenna bands.

 

[Toltepeceno]

I can see a future where happy users of the diminutive 4" iPhones are the backbone of Apple’s mobile devices. The love of tiny phones being unique to Apple devotees, sales of the "big iPhone" will have shrunken to a sliver of its prior level.

In this scenario, Android Smartphones dominate as the prefered mobile phone of choice.

This frees Apple up to focus on cars and other gadgets. Eagerly chasing Elon Musk, emulating Tesla, Apple is now able to catch up and establish it's place in the electric car business. By placing their focus on the auto industry and dedicating the majority of it's marketing muscle behind Apple Car, they will quickly garner the attention and headlines that keep Apple happy.

While I agree with you, nobody wants a phone less than 5" around here it seems to be more apple devotees, I'm not sure its not more a case of apple keeping the supply Extremely low to make it look like much more demand. Like this article talks about.

http://bgr.com/2016/04/08/iphone-se-launch-supply-demand-low/

"On launch day, not a single Apple retail store in all of Chicago had a 64GB iPhone available. Curious, I decided to check availability across other big cities, including New York and Boston. Alas, no luck. Still curious, I even checked iPhone availability at Apple retail stores close to Apple’s Cupertino campus; surely, if any retail store would be properly stocked, it’d be those close to Apple HQ, right? Wrong."


"The strange reality is that Apple launched the iPhone SE with shockingly small supply. Did Apple perhaps target China at launch? After all, early sales there appeared to be rather impressive. Whatever the reason, the iPhone SE launch in the United States has been inexplicably muted.

Even today, a full week after the device launched, getting your hands on an iPhone SE remains an exercise in frustration. As a quick experiment, I searched for a 64GB silver iPhone SE in more than 20 Apple retail stores in the Los Angeles area. No luck whatsoever. I next tried looking for a Sprint model 64GB iPhone SE in Space Black in 23 Apple retail stores in the New York City area; not a single one had a device available for pickup.

I’m sure Apple will eventually get a handle on supply, but it’s particularly strange that Apple would launch the iPhone SE with laughably small supply. Even more curious is why supply has been so low in the first place. After all, the iPhone SE sports the same exact industrial design as the iPhone 5s, a device Apple expertly knows how to make by the millions.

Over the past few days, we’ve seen reports that iPhone SE supply simply can’t keep up with demand. While perhaps technically true, a more precise take would be that iPhone SE supply was ridiculously low at launch."

I, for one, will be curious to see the numbers when they come out. If the se was selling gangbusters as some claim then it would be taking up the slack and sales would not be declining. If the se was reversing the decline cook would be all over the place shouting it.

I feel like apple should have just skipped releasing a new iPhone this year. The iphone 7 is most likely going to be a rehash of iphone 6s. No new real features except dual camera and maybe they'll get rid of the ugly antenna bands.

Phones, ipads and os's every two years. Better products, less buggy systems.